Millions in undisclosed payments will sink SA amateur clubs, warn football chiefs

SA COUNTRY and amateur league football chiefs believe $20 million in undisclosed player payments per season is killing community football.

SOUTH Australian country and amateur league football chiefs believe $20 million in undisclosed player payments per season is killing community football.

Amateur football league chief executive John Kernahan and River Murray Football League president Mick O’Hara both fear clubs could die if controls are not introduced to curb player payments.

“Brown paper bags and football mercenaries threaten to undermine a positive culture built around social inclusion that has served many for a long time,’’ Mr Kernahan said.

Mr Kernahan said he had heard reports of some clubs paying up to $200,000 to their players per season, a figure supported by Mr O’Hara, who estimated his competition spent $1 million on players payments.

The pair both said they wouldn’t be surprised if payments across the state’s 277 clubs now totalled $20 million.

The revelation came as an unprecedented number of suburban Adelaide clubs found themselves in dire on-and-off field trouble, with some reporting player poaching by country clubs as a serious issue.

Kilburn, Flinders University, Angle Vale, Mitchell Park, Brahma Lodge and Wingfield have all faced struggles to field teams this year and been on the end of huge losses.

“What is important here and must be protected at all costs is the social fabric of society that has been built by generations around community sport and football in particular,’’ Mr Kernahan said.

“The emotional toll on hard working volunteers who help ensure their club’s survival only to be abused by club hopping mercenaries is palatable.”

Mr O’Hara said many country clubs were equally worried about the issue, with his competition so concerned it recently wrote to the SA Community Football League (SACFL) to propose a statewide ceiling on what an individual could earn.

“Most country people know that small country towns have to have recruits to fill their football team to be competitive but sometimes it gets a bit overboard,’’ he said.

“A team that should have four of five recruits has got about 12 and then it does put a few noses out of joint.”

Mr Kernahan and Mr O’Hara are part of an SACFL committee which is assessing the affect of the Approved Point Points System, which was introduced in 2011 to effectively limit the number of recruits a club could bring in.

The pair both generally supported the system but hinted at additional measures to curb payments, with Mr O’Hara supporting a ceiling on what an individual could earn.

Mr Kernahan said 2014 was proving a tipping point on the issue, and believed most clubs, both city and country, agreed changes were needed.

“I’m confident the South Australian Community Football League (SACFL) as the controlling body as well as forward thinking leagues in regional areas have identified the need for an increased level of responsible governance,’’ he said.

Mr Kernahan also said Australian Taxation Office clarification should be sought on what constituted a “hobby’’ income in sport.

SA Community Football League manager Leanne Grantham believed the volunteer and community culture in local football remained strong.

But she supported Mr Kernahan and Mr O’Hara’s view that action was need to control player payments.

“At the review discussion on player points, the issue of player payments has certainly come up and it is certainly something that in my opinion we do need to look at,’’ Ms Grantham said.

Urban fringe-based Angle Vale Football Club was reduced to 12-men in a division six amateur league match last Saturday and its president Bruce Lockwood said it had been crippled by player losses to big paying teams in the nearby Barossa, Light and Gawler Football Association.

The Owls, who don’t pay players, conceded 460 points against Blackfriars Old Scholars last Saturday, the highest score in the 103-year history of the amateur league.

“We lost basically our whole A-grade last year,’’ Lockwood said.

“We’re playing against a lot of clubs who pay their players now and we’re trying to keep our guys here out of love for the club.”